Iris (Pokémon)
in the Best Wishes series]] Iris (Japanese: アイリス Iris) is a girl from the Unova region who is a former traveling companion of Ash Ketchum In the anime History Iris was born and raised in the Village of Dragons and would spend her time as a little girl playing with the wild Pokémon that lived in the forest just outside the village. She had learned to be quite skilled in tree climbing, as well as tending and caring to different Pokémon. One day she met a wild Drilbur that had injured a Patrat and stolen its food. Angered, she sought justice for the Drilbur's deed and challenged him. After countless defeats, she finally managed to out maneuver the Mole Pokémon and get him caught in some vines dangling just over a cliff. After coming to his rescue, the two became good friends and began training together. After many victories against different types of Trainers, Drilbur evolved into an Excadrill. The two then got the opportunity to meet Drayden, a Dragon Master, who praised Iris for her skill in battle. When he asked who was teaching her how to battle she responded that she was teaching herself with the help of the Pokémon she had befriended in the village. Brimming with confidence, she then challenged Drayden to a battle. However, Drayden's Haxorus was more powerful than Iris had anticipated and Excadrill was easily defeated. After suffering defeat and becoming distrustful of his Trainer, Excadrill then closed himself off to Iris, rarely opening up, and never showing emotion. Not long after those events, Iris left for Opelucid City to attend school at the Opelucid Academy. When she was not in school, she stayed with Martha in a dorm. These were very difficult times for Iris, though. She struggled in school, and failed to make any friends or interact with any of the other students at the academy. Iris also didn't feel compatible with the urban city life. She tried to take her mind off the city by climbing the radio tower for a view of the mountains, but always got into trouble with Officer Jenny. All of these hardships in the city made her homesick, so she often spent her spare time writing to her friend Shannon. Eventually, after losing a battle at school, Iris could not stand this life anymore and dropped out. Leaving her partner Pokémon, Fraxure, behind, Iris returned to the Village of Dragons. Years passed, and Iris was called upon by the village elder. She was to start a journey with a newly hatched Axew and raise him to become a full-fledged Haxorus. She accepted this trial, and set off on her journey, hoping to someday become a Dragon Master herself. Some time after these events, she witnessed a storm caused by Zekrom during the events of In The Shadow of Zekrom!. She missed actually encountering the Deep Black Pokémon, and continued on her journey, eventually meeting Ash Ketchum the very next day when he accidentally tried to catch her, thinking she was a Pokémon. The two had a rocky start, often finding reasons to argue and occasionally calling each other names. However they kept each other company and Iris even stayed to watch his first Gym battle in Triple Leaders! Team Threats!. After the battle one of the Gym Leaders, Cilan, had decided to travel alongside Ash, and noted that the three of them make a good team. So Iris decided to officially become their traveling companion. In The Bloom Is on Axew! Iris decided she would begin using her new friends to help train her Axew, so she asked Cilan to battle her to help get her started. It was then that she revealed her Axew knew Dragon Rage but hadn't yet mastered how to use it. She later opened up to Cilan and Ash and told them about her hometown, and how she got Axew in the first place. After she finished her story, the group realized Axew had gone missing, and found him stuck in the horns of a Scolipede. They failed to calm the raging Pokémon, so Iris called upon her Excadrill for help. Unfortunately, Excadrill was still closing himself off from Iris, but Excadrill still took care of the Scolipede after Iris had saved Axew herself, when the Scolipede kicked him into a boulder. With everything calmed down, Cilan approached Iris and reassured her to do things at her own pace and not worry too much, and that someday Axew and Excadrill will become even more powerful and loyal to her. In A Home for Dwebble! she revealed that she knows how to make herbal remedies to heal sick Pokémon when Cilan's Pansage got hit with a rock and caught a fever. This skill became quite handy throughout her journey whenever the group was low on medication and too far from a Pokémon Center. In A Night in the Nacrene Museum! she claimed that she has an acute "sixth sense" when she felt the presence of a spirit haunting the museum. It later turned out to be a Yamask who merely wanted its mask returned to it. However, she was still sure in her abilities in Sewaddle and Burgh in Pinwheel Forest! when the group got lost in Pinwheel Forest. Iris got separated from the group in Emolga the Irresistible! after Axew tried to befriend a wild Emolga who had narrowly avoided being smothered by Bianca who had been accompanying the group after Ash won his third Badge. The three of them end up being attacked by a swarm of Swoobat and eventually rescued by Ash and Pikachu. The Emolga had grown fond of Iris and accepted her as her Trainer, earning Iris another Pokémon. In Emolga and the New Volt Switch!, Bianca offered to battle the newly caught Emolga, however things didn't go as planned when they found out that Emolga was fairly lazy and used Volt Switch to avoid battles. This did not discourage Iris too much as she accepted the challenge of raising Emolga to hopefully become a skilled battler. In The Dragon Master's Path!, the group met a young girl named Emmy who was having trouble with her Druddigon. Iris noticed the cause of the Pokémon's rage was a wire wrapped around its ankle, and managed to calm it down by removing it. Impressed with her knowledge of Dragon-type Pokémon, Emmy formally introduced herself and admitted to being a novice. Iris then offered to train her in the ways of Dragon-type Pokémon, and revealed her dream of becoming a Dragon Master some day. In Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!, Iris was challenged by Georgia, a Dragon Buster. Her Axew was easily defeated by Georgia's Beartic. Georgia criticized her for not owning more Dragon types and Iris decided to call on her Excadrill who still wouldn't obey her. Again, the battle resulted in a loss for Iris. She later explained that the resulting loss to Drayden when she was younger is what caused Excadrill to disobey her. But after a night of bonding with Excadrill, he regained his confidence and learned Focus Blast. Iris re-challenges Georgia with Excadrill and the battle resulted in a draw. Iris competed in the Club Battle along with multiple other Trainers, including her rival, Georgia. Her first battle was against Jimmy Ray and his Watchog in Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!!, which Iris easily won with her Emolga. She then battled against Stephan and his Sawk in The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!, which she also managed to win with Emolga. She then went up against Luke and his Golett in the next episode, using Axew. In the battle Axew learned Outrage, which he used to defeat Golett. In the final round, Iris went up against Ash and his Pikachu, while Iris used her Excadrill. After a long fight, Excadrill managed to defeat Pikachu, allowing Iris to win the tournament, along with a full set of Wings. Her fear of Ice has been put to the test in some episodes, like in Caution: Icy Battle Conditions!, where she entered a cold Gym and saw her friend facing several Ice types. Some time later in order to escape a building filled with Ferroseed moss she had to command her rival's Ice-type Pokémon when her Pokémon other were unable to help. After hearing a story of a Dragon type intentionally damaging a local power plant causing a blackout in Undella Town, she decided to investigate this herself. Later she encountered a unusually grumpy and hostile Dragonite that was just resting to recover from a injury. Upon seeing a mob of Trainers ready to take the Dragonite down, she decided to shield him until her friends found the footage proving that the whole situation was a misunderstanding. Iris happily accepted when the Dragonite offered joining her party. In the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, she decided to settle things with Georgia fighting her newly-obtained Dragonite against the latter's Beartic. However, the Pokémon didn't take any of his Trainer's orders, continuing Iris's streak of disobedient Pokémon. Despite knowing the risks, Iris kept using Dragonite in all of the rounds. However, her over-confidence when Dragonite began obeying her was later her downfall when a single powerful attack put Dragonite in a rampage, leaving him vulnerable to defeat and eliminating her. After a long time away, Iris returned to the Village of Dragons in A Village Homecoming!. After having several flashbacks of her times in before traveling with Ash, she was given the chance to battle Drayden again, this time in a Gym battle. When they arrived in Opelucid City in Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future!, Iris revealed her bad experience there. Once again, she got in trouble with Officer Jenny for climbing the radio tower. While Officer Jenny was questioning her, she met up with Martha again. After that she and Ash and Cilan went to the Opelucid Gym to battle Drayden. Although she did improve, managing to defeat his Haxorus, she lost again. This time however, her Pokémon didn't appear sad despite their defeat and after the battle she promised to get stronger. As a result, Drayden told the village elder to consider Iris as Opelucid City Gym Leader. Category:Characters Category:Pokémon